'Disruptive' Tonga and Fiji to provide serious examinations for Rebels

By Stathi Paxinos

January 11, 2011 — 3.00am

MELBOURNE Rebels coach Rod Macqueen said he expected the physicality and unpredictability that Tonga and Fiji would provide in the club's trial games would help sort out who would make up the first-choice line-up for the new Super Rugby team.

The Rebels will play their first game this Saturday night against Tonga at Olympic Park. They play another trial against Tonga in Morwell next week before taking on Fiji in Ballarat on January 29 and Super 15 powerhouse, the Crusaders, at AAMI Park on February 5.

Macqueen said the games against the Pacific Islanders would aid in moulding his raw squad before the Super Rugby opener against the New South Wales Waratahs on February 18 as he examined how players and combinations performed under pressure.

''They'll be a very good standard being a World Cup year. That's why they're starting so early themselves,'' Macqueen said. ''They're needing to develop players and make decisions on their World Cup representatives so it's going to be an extra incentive for them.

''We want to be able to play with discipline against them. I think they're sides that can be disruptive and because of that it's going to be a big test for us.

''We really are now at the stage where we need to be putting all the things that we've been practising together. It's amazing the difference it makes when you're under pressure. That's going to be our big test.''

Macqueen said he would mix and match the team for the two games against Tonga before moving towards a settled line-up in the later trials.